Sheet metal rolling mill Olbernhau

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VEB Blechwalzwerk Olbernhau
legal form publicly-owned business
founding 1947 (as Sächsische Blechwalzwerke Olbernhau ,
renaming on July 1, 1948 to VEB Blechwalzwerk Olbernhau )
Seat Olbernhau , Germany
management most recently (1987–1990) Werner Nötzel
Number of employees 603 (1990)
Branch metallurgy

The sheet rolling mill in Olbernhau was an iron metallurgical company in the small Saxon town of Olbernhau in the Ore Mountains . It had the legal form of a state-owned company (VEB) . It was founded in 1947 as Sächsische Blechwalzwerke Olbernhau with the existing facilities of FA Lange Metallwerke AG Aue and continued the history of metallurgy that had existed at the location since 1537 with the establishment of Saigerhütte Grünthal .

history

Establishment and difficult restart of production

According to the provisions of the Allied Control Council on the demilitarization of Germany, the plants of FA Lange Metallwerke AG Aue were placed under sequester . Contrary to the efforts of the Saxon state government to transfer the company into public ownership, the Soviet occupying power decided to dismantle existing plants and equipment. By May 1946, 60 to 70 percent of the capacities at the Olbernhau location had been dismantled and removed, as had all metal stocks and finished products.
On April 29, 1947, the plant was transferred to state ownership, and the new company was called Sächsische Blechwalzwerke Olbernhau . One month later, the formal abandonment of the planned dismantling took place. Initially, the small stocks of materials were used to manufacture smaller everyday objects that were urgently needed by the population.
The factory location was able to rely on more than 400 years of experience in non-ferrous metallurgy , but the Soviet military administration decided that from now on products should be made of steel.

All in all, the technology available when production started again was behind the previous, dismantled technology. In addition, the precarious energy situation led to production losses. A planned output of 442 tons in the first year was compared to an actual amount of 272 tons. By 1949, it was possible to increase production significantly by investing in machinery and equipment, when a new rolling mill was put into operation.

From July 1948 the plant belonged to the newly founded VESTA (Association of state-owned companies for the production and processing of pig iron, steel and rolling mill products), from then on the plant operated as VEB Blechwalzwerk Olbernhau .

Existence and operation after 1950

Due to the state division of Germany, there was a great demand for rolled sheet metal in the GDR, which helped the plant to continue its growth. In 1949 the annual production was 8,397 tons. Extensive investments made it possible to increase this amount to 16,543 tons in the following year. The focus here was on dynamo and transformer sheet production .

In view of the first five-year plan , according to which the plant and its products had to make a decisive contribution to the reconstruction of industry in the GDR, the existing building fabric had to be fundamentally adapted and expanded accordingly. In the period from 1951 to 1956, the existing rolling halls were built over with new, 12-meter-high halls during ongoing production and, after completion, the now dispensable, 5-meter-high halls were demolished. The economic impact of these investments was groundbreaking. The time required for various work could be significantly reduced by the integrated crane systems. The year 1956 saw a positive operating result for the first time. In addition, a new boiler house and a transformer building were built during this period. 35,000 tons of sheet metal should now be produced each year.

In the second half of the 1950s, further investments were aimed at increasing the mechanization of production processes and thus increasing quality. However, until 1964 only minor measures of mechanization and rationalization were carried out.

The building of the wall, beginning on August 13, 1961, as well as subsequent measures by the GDR and the subsequent reactions on the part of the FRG were decisive for the further development of production. As a counter-reaction, the latter had canceled domestic German trade, which increased the demands on VEB Blechwalzwerk in order to compensate for the failure of goods deliveries. From 1963, the factory also supplied for export to Comecon countries . However, the possibilities for increasing production with the existing technology were exhausted. Only with the commissioning of a new heavy plate mill in 1964/65 and other partial mechanization was this condition at least partially improved.

Existence and operation within the strip steel combine Eisenhüttenstadt

On January 1, 1969, the Eisenhüttenstadt Strip Steel Combine (BKE) was established. Seven companies belonged to it, which until then had been subordinate to VVB Stahl- und Walzwerke Berlin and VVB Eisenerz / Roheisen Saalfeld . In addition to the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost (EKO), these were: the Thale ironworks , the Finow and Burg rolling mills and the Olbernhau sheet metal rolling mill. Furthermore, the cold rolling mills in Oranienburg and Bad Salzungen were incorporated into the BKE.

With its integration into the BKE, uniform management structures were created for all associated companies. The combine regulated planning and management and enforced cooperation through guidelines. However, the companies retained their own responsibility in matters of economic and technical development.

A record was set on December 21, 1971, when the annual output exceeded 100,000 tons of rolled sheet for the first time. The continuous increase in production was achieved through technical reconstructions, rationalization, implementation of suggestions for innovations and the willingness of the workforce.
The degree of mechanization rose from 72 to 80 percent in the period 1973–78. On May 1, 1973, the conversion to natural gas was completed.

Existence and operation after 1980

The discontinuation of sheet metal production for the electrical industry in 1983 was important for the further development of the plant. The existing technical systems could not meet the quality standards required by customers, which is why the GDR decided to import these products. From then on, fine, heavy and corrugated sheets were produced for ship, wagon and vehicle construction as well as heavy machinery.

With the decision of the Council of Ministers of the GDR on the production of consumer goods , a dedicated department was set up in the company and set up in a separate hall. Among other things, pipe connections and rain barrels were produced. The then VEB Polytechnik in Frankenberg took over and continued the production of the “Rollfix” small transport vehicles. In addition, it was a supplier of steel stool frames for the seating industry in Neuhausen and Oederan .

In the 1980s you were produced for export to western countries in order to earn foreign currency. Sheet metal had already been delivered to the USA, Germany and Belgium in 1974. At the beginning of the 1980s, the production of rationalization equipment such as lifting platforms, chain straps and spare parts for personal use began.

Turnaround time and settlement after German reunification

In the first half of 1989, the management presented a concept that would extend into 1995. Significant increases in production were not planned, also because the spatial expansion of the plant at the location had reached the limits of what was possible. A fundamental further development of the technical systems was not planned.

On March 1, 1990, the general director of the BKE and the directorates of the associated companies decided to convert the combine operations into GmbHs as subsidiaries of the EKO Stahl AG, which was then being founded . The formal step to transform into a GmbH was completed on May 16, 1990.

With the entry into force of the monetary, economic and social union on July 1, 1990 and the introduction of the D-Mark as the official means of payment, the sales market collapsed within a very short time and attempts to open up new sales opportunities failed. On October 5, 1990, production was completely stopped, and on October 30, due to the precarious economic situation, the Supervisory Board made the decision to liquidate the company . After 453 years, the history of metallurgy at the site finally ended.

On March 31, 1992, operations were finally closed.

Reuse of the factory premises and partial demolition

After 1992, various medium-sized companies settled in the area between Flöha and Grünthaler Straße. The objects in the area on the opposite side of the Flöha were completely demolished between 2007 and the end of 2010 and the area was then renatured .

literature

  • Hanns-Heinz Kasper , Hans-Hendrik Kasper: The sheet metal rolling mill Olbernhau 1945–1990 . In: Saigerhüttenverein Olbernhau-Grünthal eV (Hrsg.): History of metallurgy in the city of Olbernhau . tape III , 2010, ISBN 978-3-937386-22-5 .
  • Hans-Hendrik Kasper: The sheet rolling mill Olbernhau . in: Sächsische Heimatblätter 56 (2010) 4, pp. 342–349

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Hanns-Heinz Kasper: From the Royal Saxon Copper Hammer to the FA Lange Metallwerke AG 1873–1945 . In: Saigerhüttenverein Olbernhau-Grünthal eV (Hrsg.): History of metallurgy in the city of Olbernhau . tape II . Olbernhau 1997, ISBN 3-929048-26-4 , p. 52 .
  2. ↑ See Kasper 2010, pp. 12-13
  3. ↑ See Kasper 2010, pp. 14–15
  4. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 16
  5. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 20
  6. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 22
  7. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 32
  8. ↑ See Kasper 2010, pp. 34–35
  9. ↑ The EKO becomes the headquarters of the VEB Bandstahlkombinat. Company history. ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt, January 1, 1969, accessed November 9, 2013 .
  10. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 53
  11. ↑ a b See Kasper 2010, p. 54
  12. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 67
  13. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 79
  14. ↑ a b See Kasper 2010, pp. 68–69
  15. ↑ See Kasper 2010, pp. 93–94
  16. ↑ See Kasper 2010, p. 95
  17. ↑ a b See Kasper 2010, pp. 96–97
  18. ↑ ERDF funding in Olbernhau. (PDF; 591 kB) Revitalization of the former sheet metal rolling mill in Olbernhau - 2nd construction phase. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 9, 2013 ; Retrieved November 9, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.olbernhau.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 39 ′ 5.5 ″  N , 13 ° 21 ′ 43.5 ″  E